Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-11
A Peanut Blaza

ST. LOUIS, Mo, Aug. l0.-A fire was
discovered IN the second sto'y of Bishop
& Spears peanut and pecan establish
ment st 80 o'clock this morning, and
before the fames were subdued the whole
fire department was called out. The firm
occupied r four story iron front building,
Nos. 5l2 and 5l4 Main street, and suffered
q loss of 100000 IN stock. Toe building
owned by Chateau & Tate was ruined,
causing loss OF $50, coo. The TIRE started
in the basement from the rooster aud
quickly communicated to the rest Of the
building through the elevator. FOR
time the whole block was threatened, as
the flames leaped wildly across
the street, throwing ont an
intense heat, which drove the tlremen
from the front of the building. The firm
has the largest peanut trsd2 in the west
and were thoroughly stocked for the fall
trade. 40 1inlng Bishop 4 Spears pea
nut warehouse or the north is AIkine's
Grocery Company. The walls OK the next
warehouse were wrecked by the fire.
Firemen were still working on the peanut
fire at O'Clock this morning. a
hose truck stood by in front of
Bishop & Spears ruins, the ruins Of which
had stood all night and were still burn
ing, although seemingly intact. There
were dozen men on the truck and about
six men were on q ladder under the win
6Ows Of the unburned portion.
"Look out" cried two Western Union
linemen who were on telegraph pole In
front of the Akire grocery store. The
words were scarcely out OF their mouths
when the wall OF the grocery quivered
aud fell into the ruins OF the peanut Ware-
house. This removed from the
front wall Of the warehouse its
principal support, and in an
instant and the unburned portion Of the
building that it kept in position was in
ruins, but the tiremen on the ladder and
on the windows were beneath 1t. The
firemen at the foot of the ladder escaped
with only slight injuries. The firemen
known to have been killed gre:
BARNEY MCKARNAND, acting assistant
chief.
FRANK MCDANIELs, fireman.
CHRIS HOELLs, foreman.
The injured are: James O'Brien,
jacob Feldnen, William Zimmerman and
Mat Depore. a building owned by e. +.
Glasgow and occupied by Hsrgadipe &
McKittrick dry goods dealers, as store
house, fell on account OF the Alkire col
lapse. The loss is $50, 900.
Nothing could be seen of HOell, but
Feldman, his assistant, wss taken out
from the ruins on the sidewalk with his
thigh broken. Simmerman was soon
found with his left shoulder blade broken
and his face badly cut. A spectator
across the street named James O'Brien
was caught by falling iron column and
crushed nearly to death. He was taken
to the hospital fatally hurt. How other
spectators escaped is mysterious, as
there were people st the side of O'Brien.
A party Of firemen and Others set to work
Immediately to recover the body of Chris
Heel, which was covered By the runs.
The hest wss intense, SIS the air of 8
naturally hot day was superheated by the
smouldsTipg peanuts, which made q
large part CT the debris, but the
men worked like Tr0jans. Shortly
after noon the unfortunate fireman
wss found He had been in the third
floor with a pipe working down the
smouldering nuts. He was crushed al
most beyond recognition. The dead fire.
men were men of note in their profes-
son.
Chris H5ell originated the Pompier
corps and invented the bent and scaling
ladder. He has spent much time in other
large cities in Introducing his ladder and
instructing tiremen. He has saved QeH9
lives directly, and his invention has S6Ted
many hundreds. !
Barney McKerman has been amembe5
of the St. Louis department for msn1
years, and at this fire was act1e
assistant chief. He has saSEd
overa dozen lives and was an expect In
handling the Pomp.er ladder, having car